The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for setting a stator coil on a blade of an inserter, and to a method for manufacturing a rotating electrical machine including a stator core about which stator coils are wound.
A stator used for a rotating electrical machine such as an electric motor and a generator has a stator core including teeth. Stator coils are inserted in slots formed between the teeth. Japanese Patent No. 3448204 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-184887 disclose methods for winding stator coils. In these methods, the stator coils are wound around a stator core such that each stator coil extends over a number of teeth. The stator coils overlap one another to form a spiral shape as a whole.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-80356 discloses a method for inserting stator coils in slots of a stator core using an inserter.
In a case where the stator coils are inserted in the slots of the stator core using the inserter, the stator coils that are formed into a predetermined shape in advance need to be set on a blade of the inserter. In order to apply the above inserter to the methods disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3448204 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-184887, it is necessary to set, on the blade, the stator coils that are formed into a shape that permits the stator coils to overlap one another to form a spiral shape when inserted in the slots of the stator core. However, in the conventional methods, since the stator coils are manually formed, the arrangement of the stator coils inserted in the slots tends to be uneven. In particular, unevenness in the arrangement is significant at the region where the stator coil that is set on the blade first overlaps the stator coil that is set on the blade last. This reduces the efficiency of the rotating electrical machine.